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Poland
Poland is a nation in Eastern Europe. Historically it has been prevented from becoming a regional power because it shared borders with far stronger nations Germany and Russia. At various points in its history, Poland has been partitioned entirely off the map. Poland in In the Presence of Mine Enemies Poland was part of the Greater German Reich in 2010. During World War II, the Reich genocided the Poles due to their Slavic ancestry and their animosity to Germany. Following the war, Poland was "formally" annexed into Greater Germany and colonized by German settlers. The remaining handful of Poles were enslaved by the Reich and were used along Russian, Ukrainian, Serb and Arab slave laborers by German industry for "dirty" or dangerous work. Poland in Southern Victory In 1916, Germany established a client Kingdom of Poland on historically Polish territory that Germany had conquered from Russia. However, Germany was also a traditional enemy of Poland, and also occupied historically Polish territory. For this reason, the Polish people never fully supported the German-backed royal government. When war broke out between Germany and Russia in 1941, Poles were divided in their loyalties. Poland's large Jewish minority was overwhelmingly loyal to the German-backed king because the Russians traditionally persecuted the Jews within their own territory. During the Second Great War, Poland was a target of Russian invasion, but was ultimately forced back by the Germans and Polish nationalists. Poland in Worldwar Poland was established as a nation at the end of World War I from territory stripped from Germany and Russia, both of which bitterly resented its existence. In 1939, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin agreed to invade Poland and divide its territory between their two countries, thus beginning World War II. In June of 1941 German forces drove Soviet forces from their half of Poland as part of their invasion of Russia and overran all of Poland. Over the next year, German rule in Poland was draconian and oppressive, especially toward the Jews, who were forced to live in ghettos such as those in the cities of Warsaw and Łódź. By May 1942 the Germans had already begun to send Jews to concentration camps, where they were murdered en masse. When the Race invaded Earth, they quickly drove the Germans from Poland and began administering it themselves. Both Poles and Jews were divided in their loyalties: One option was to support the Race in its war against the rest of the humanity; the other was to support their old enemies, the Germans and the Russians. During negotiations of the Peace of Cairo, the Race pressed both Vyacheslav Molotov and Joachim von Ribbentrop to allow it to colonize Poland. Molotov agreed, not least of all because neither trusted the other and both were fearful that Poland run by a human government, any human government, could provide a flashpoint for another Russo-German war, but Ribbentrop was a harder sell. Eventually he too agreed to these terms when the Race threatened Germany with total war if it refused and the other human powers in attendance expressed unwillingness to support Germany. Poland became, along with Spain and Portugal, one of the Race's few European colonies. Both the Poles and the Jews became comfortable under the Race's rule, though ethnic tensions between the two persisted and the Poles in particular resented the Race for denying them their own nation. Both factions maintained their own independent militia forces, and the leaders of both militias agreed to support the Race against either the Germans or the Soviets should another round of fighting break out. In 1965, Germany invaded Poland, touching off the Race-German War of 1965. True to their word, both the Jewish and Polish militias offered their services to the Conquest Fleet. They provided the majority of the Race's infantry forces on the Polish front. Poland in "In This Season" Puck, Poland, was part of the territory ruled by Germany in 1939. Three Jewish families were rescued from Puck through the aid of a mysterious golem. Poland Poland Poland Poland Poland Poland Poland Poland Poland Poland Poland Poland